Gulf St Vincent Prawn (Melicertus latisuclatus) Fishery

This report updates the 2005 fishery assessment report and is part of SARDI Aquatic Sciences ongoing assessment program for the Gulf St. Vincent Prawn Fishery
(GSVPF). The aims are to (1) synthesise and assess the information available for the GSVPF from 1968–2004/05, (2) assess the status of the resource and consider the uncertainty associated with that assessment, (3) comment on current Performance Indicators for the fishery, and (4) identify future research priorities. 2. This assessment of the GSVPF was heavily weighted by fishery-dependent data.
Changes in stock status (i.e. prawn biomass) inferred from commercial data are influenced by several factors, including changes in fishing efficiency and harvest strategy. Thus, large changes over short time scales (ie. several years) provided the greatest levels of confidence. 3. Consistent, rigorous fishery-independent stock assessment surveys were implemented from 2004/05. This ongoing fishery-independent survey program will substantially
augment future assessments of this fishery.